IT'S A CRIME THIS CAPER COULDN'T BE FUNNIER.Byline: - Bob StraussWITH THE LIKES of ``Amores Perros'' and ``Y Tu Mama Tambien'' setting the pace, Mexican films seem to be in a race to see which can be the most outrageous. ``Matando Cabos'' is no slouch slouch v. slouched, slouch·ing, slouch·es v.intr. 1. To sit, stand, or walk with an awkward, drooping, excessively relaxed posture. 2. To droop or hang carelessly, as a hat. v. in that department. A black farce about the serious local problem of ransom kidnapping, it's vulgar and brutal, pleasingly surreal in places and, initially, pretty funny. But first-time feature director and co-writer Alejandro Lozano Alejandro Lozano Morales, (March 17, 1939, La Toba, Guadalajara – March 30, 2003, Barcelona) was a Spanish artist, painter and mosaic muralist. Life Alejandro Lozano estudied Humanities at the El Pardo Seminary (Madrid, Spain) from 1951 to 1957. can't maintain his plot's cleverness nor the split-second comic timing a film with this many crazy coincidences needs to succeed. In this movie, happenstance hap·pen·stance n. A chance circumstance: "Marriage loomed only as an outgrowth of happenstance; you met a person" Bruce Weber. flies thick and ridiculously - and through a confusing mesh of flashbacks, hallucinations Hallucinations Definition Hallucinations are false or distorted sensory experiences that appear to be real perceptions. These sensory impressions are generated by the mind rather than by any external stimuli, and may be seen, heard, felt, and even and unreliable narratives to boot. I'll try to explain it. But no promises. Oscar Cabos (Pedro Armendariz) is a hateful, violent and super-wealthy Mexico City Mexico City Spanish Ciudad de México City (pop., 2000: city, 8,605,239; 2003 metro. area est., 18,660,000), capital of Mexico. Located at an elevation of 7,350 ft (2,240 m), it is officially coterminous with the Federal District, which occupies 571 sq mi businessman. When an accident renders him unconscious, his future son-in-law Jaque and Jaque's best friend Mudo (Mexican soap opera stars Tony Dalton and Kristoff) toss Cabos in the trunk of their car. At about the same time, a more serious group of kidnappers grab someone they think is Cabos, but who actually turns out to be the ringleader's father. Because a hood is kept over the victim's head, this is not realized for the longest time. Nor can they get Cabos' wife to pay attention to their ransom demands, as she's organizing a gala birthday party for herself and couldn't care less about her husband, anyway. Cars and hostages get switched back and forth, captives and captors alike are horribly abused, and somehow a retired, drug-addled masked wrestler and a 4-foot-tall cannibal become enmeshed en·mesh also im·mesh tr.v. en·meshed, en·mesh·ing, en·mesh·es To entangle, involve, or catch in or as if in a mesh. See Synonyms at catch. in the ever-more-complicated - yet, somehow, slower-moving - shenanigans shenanigans Noun, pl Informal 1. mischief or nonsense 2. trickery or deception [origin unknown] . Though not devoid of satiric sharpness, ``Matando Cabos' '' has such a bleak view of human nature that it leaves you wishing that someone would just take all of its self-centered characters away somewhere and never bring them back. MATANDO CABOS - Two stars (R: violence, language, sex, nudity, drug use) Starring: Tony Dalton, Kristoff, Pedro Armendariz, Joaquin Cosio. Director: Alejandro Lozano. Running time: 1 hr. 33 min. Playing: In wide release. In a nutshell: Mexican kidnapping comedy of errors starts out pleasingly, cheesily wacko but succumbs to slack plotting and pacing. In Spanish with English subtitles. |
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